Thursday, November 28, 2013

Two thousand years ago, Jews dispersed to regions
around the Mediterranean with religions that honored deities other than “the
Lord” of Hebrew literature. These pagan communities prayed to gods or goddesses
who conquered life in the world and achieved immortality. Their liturgies
solemnly commemorated and ritually enacted a deity’s life, death, and
resurrection, which, of course, is what we do in the Mass. The rites put
participants in close relation with the divinity and allowed them a share in
the divine powers. Like the Mass, sacred pageants of pagans produced a constant
renewal, a participation in the deity’s dying and rising.

Our Mass and sacraments have the spiritual aura
and basic significance of Pagan ceremonies. Pagan myth and rite corresponded to
each other as they do in Christian practice where the significance of Passion
and Death, Last Supper, Mass and Eucharist are closely interwoven. Significantly,
the Mass is called the Mystery.

Like Christians later, pagan mystery religions
had confession of sin, repentance, purification, pleas for deliverance,
successful healings, atonement, and salvation. Initiation ceremonies brought a
new state of mind through experience with the Sacred. Lesser mysteries were
designed to purify candidates for greater mysteries, as Baptism and Confession
lead to the holier mystery of Eucharist.

The ceremonies included sacred meals, prayers of
thanksgiving, sacred texts, accounts of visions, miracle stories, incense, and
fixed confessions binding the community, somewhat like Christian creeds. Reitzenstein
writes that in Rome a message of salvation climaxed in the confession of Hermes
as the triune God of the world. Another confessional formula declared Isis
Goddess over all.

The deities offered soteriaor salvation for things in this life.
But Greek mystery rites also expressed the Egyptian belief in an afterlife of
either ecstasy or misery, heaven or hell in our terms. In Greek mythology,
virtuous people went to the Elysian Fields for their paradise of ideal bliss,
an obvious forerunner of the Christian heaven.

I use Christian sources for my information in the
hope that fellow Christians will credit it. One is the textbook used in my
scripture class taught by Ivan Havener, OSB, The New Testament: An Introduction, by Norman Perrin and Dennis
Duling. They write about divinities in the Greco-Roman world:

Eternal, immortal gods are said to descend, or
are sent from heaven to earth, for some important redemptive mission on behalf
of humankind, and occasionally they can be identified with historical figures .
. .

When Roman emperors claimed divine prerogatives,
. . . majestic titles were often bestowed on the emperor (or demanded by some!)
such as “Lord,” “God,” “Son of God,” or “Savior.” Titles of this sort were also
given to Jesus.

More parallels to Jesus existed. Believers who
accepted initiation in pagan mysteries identified with the savior god or goddess.
They died and were reborn to become divine, after which they were honored for
their renewal. The ancient writer Apuleius
has an account of Lucius being initiated in the rites of Isis.
Lucius was considered purged of his mortality and "filled with divine, immortal
power, . . . in recognition of the transformation he had undergone."

Catholic
doctrine holds that we are divinized at Baptism, expounding the same theme of
renewal/transformation. Paul writes in Galatians 3:27:

You are
all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, since all of you who were baptized
into Christ put on Christ.

Like Pagan mysteries, Paul distinguishes sharply between the uninitiated and
initiated, between the “natural man” and the “spiritual man” (1 Corinthians
2:14-15). This Hermetic saying could have been written by Paul while expressing
his “new creation” theme:

Thou hast
made us, while still in the body, divine by the sight of Thyself, . . .

The
following statements by Paul also echo Pagan ceremonies:

Anyone in
Christ is a new creation. (2Corinthians 5:17)

All that
matters is that one is created anew. (Galatians 6:15)

Through
baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead . . . we too might live a new life. (Romans 6:1-14).

Hellenistic
piety flows out in Colossians 3 when it tells us that we become like Christ:

You have been raised up in company with Christ ... you have
died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ our life appears,
then you shall appear with him in glory.... What you have done is put aside
your old self ... and put on a new man (sic) ... formed anew in the image of
his Creator.

With the
substitution of “Isis” for “Christ” something
similar to these words might have been intoned at Lucius' elevation.

When I
was studying at the School of Theology, the venerable Godfrey Diekmann stressed
this point that we are deified, that we share in the divine nature. He wished the
Church would give more attention to it. I asked him if the theme of deification
exists in other religions. He looked surprised at my question, paused, and said
he didn’t know. Now I could tell him that it is a theme in religions around the
world. It appears in the writings of Plato and Philo. The Eastern practice of
bowing to another while saying “Namaste” also acknowledges divinity in the
other.

Elements common
to Christian and Pagan mysteries exist in religions around the world. Another
one that religions share is the significance of numbers.

Buddhism
has 12 Golden Rules, Jacob and Ishmael in the Bible have 12 sons and Elijah
builds an altar of 12 stones. Christ has 12 apostles, and the Pagan Apuleius tells of Lucius being initiated with 12
garments. There are Pagan trinities as there are Buddhist, Hindu and Christian
trinities. Jonah is in the belly of the whale for 3 days, Christ dies and rises
in 3 days; gods in other religions die and rise in 3 days. Transformation
symbolized by dying and rising is a dominant and recurrent theme in all religions
of the world. Reitzenstein writes,

The imitation of a divine being’s suffering and
death, whence benefits flow for us and for all, is another feature Christians
share with others. A rite to honor the Babylonian God Marduk includes a typical
refrain:

Who but Marduk has brought him back from death to
life?

Hermes says that no one attains salvation without
rebirth, a well-worn Christian theme.

Shrines to dying and rising deities were common
throughout Mesopotamia and Syria. One was located in Bethlehem. Church Father Jerome says,

The very grotto where the infant Christ uttered
his first cries resounded formerly with the lamentations over the lover of
Aphrodite.

Such eerie repetitions arising in the study of
religions manifest archetypal energies, say Jungian analysts. They also
indicate that alternative visions of spiritual reality have a claim
equal to the Christian one.

I do not say
our Christian religion is hogwash. I am placing it in the context of all
religions in the hope of enlarging religious awareness. Religion plays an
essential role in human consciousness, and I believe humanity now is becoming
poised to move beyond traditional religions. This is the opinion of Fr.
Diarmuid O’Murchu, stated in Quantum
Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics:

. . .
each religion . . . perpetuates forms of idolatry which have caused, and
continue to cause, immense pain and suffering in our world.

Religions
. . . may have diminished importance for humanity as we move into a new
evolutionary epoch.

. . .
today increasing numbers of people are discovering their spiritual identity in
contexts other than those of formal churches and religions.

Meanwhile,
I still happily practice religion with my fellow Catholic Christians while
expecting our religious practice to become obsolete.

DECEMBER 5, 2013
Here are the most fascinating of the many responses I
received to my post “Pagans and Christians."

Very interesting. My delving in this area has been
fairly limited. . . . Unfortunately, few Christians delve into this
subject and we are poorer for it. Exposing the facts is one way I try to place
questions into closed minds. Yours is not one of them.

A lifelong Catholic

A Benedictine informs us:

Most people who have studied scripture and liturgy know that
texts, rituals, images, even ideas have often been borrowed and evolved. That’s
the nature of religious culture and the humanities in general. There are
zillions of examples.

I’ve heard that the Buddhist tea ceremony might have been
inspired by the Christian Eucharist. The Eucharist itself has thematic roots in
ancient human sacrifice. Much of what we have today is rich and textured
because it is drawn and mixed from many sources and borrowings.

An exclusivist model does not work for understanding our
relationship to the sacred. Yet, that does not mean that we destroy what’s
“different” in order to create something non-descript. If we’re mutually
non-descript, we will not have treasures and riches to give and receive.

To be a worthy inter-religious or ecumenical partner means
sharing kaleidoscopes that can reveal countless variations and patterns.

Yes, mainstream theology has these inter-religious
understandings, but in today’s contentious atmosphere, few Christians are aware
of it.Brother Paul's comment overturns a Catholic position
I have read more often—claiming that our tradition never participated in “syncretism”
or mixing religious ideas.Many Christians—leaders included—naïvely believe that
Christian ideas are unique.

Here is another response I liked. This agnostic writer is not
identified for fear it would threaten employment—a powerful statement in
itself.

I found this post the most interesting of all the dozens of
posts you've had in the 2 plus years I've been following your blog.

I became aware of the parallels between pagan religions and
Christianity during the ‘90s and at first I wrote it off but the more parallels
I discovered it seemed to me that it was more than a coincidence. I'm
sure you are also aware of the more than dozen gods who were born of virgin
births, who suffered died, were buried and resurrected (Horus, Krishna,
Dionysus, Mithra, etc).

It has led me to the conclusion that Christianity is just
the latest in that line of religions. I discovered all these facts in a
piecemeal fashion without intending to do so. I guess you might say it
was serendipity. Through a nearly 20 year personal journey it has led me
to my current status as an agnostic. Even though I'm agnostic, I'm
still heavily influenced by my Catholic background. I believe works to be
very important. I also believe helping the less fortunate is
important.

I think that faith without good works is meaningless.
It is more of our modern-world feel good nonsense. I think the
Catholic faith has that part right. But I'm ashamed of the
Catholic hierarchy’s cover-up of sex scandals and its treatment/philosophy
towards women.

I was curious if you've had a similar journey. I'm surprised by how many
Christians are unaware of the parallels between Christianity and much earlier
religions. Those discoveries really shook my faith. I'm sure you've
studied these things in more detail than I have.

Agnostic and former Catholic

I
also was influenced by knowledge of Pagan counterparts to worship of
Jesus, but my journey had different quirks, which I hope to publish in a
memoir.

Brian’s mother forwarded his response.

I've been reading her blog entries. She's obviously
very sagacious with much time invested in historical research. . . . At times I
felt as though I was reading far more eloquent versions of my own journal
entries.

I believe [Jesus] most likely did exist, though no more a
child of God than any of the rest of us. I don't believe he literally
rose from the dead. A spiritual prodigy perhaps, as I understand Buddha, the
Dalai Lama, etc to have been and be respectively, with incredible wisdom
pertaining to matters of God. I find solace and prosperity in what they
profess(ed) about God, but I do not worship the professors.

I’m a doubting Thomas. I would most likely have
different beliefs on the matter if I personally put my fingers in his wounds
and watched him ascend into the sky, but my skepticism is proportional to the
two millennia between then and now.
It hasn’t yet proven to be possible
for me to be at rest with any belief other than “I’ll never really know,”
regardless of how many personally documented accounts and “factual” history is
presented. My nature limits the validity of such accounts to underlying
meaning, which suits me personally just fine.

Many comments seem to acknowledge the Pagan roots of Christianity while admitting few Christians know this history. What I find even more disturbing is these very Christians will then, in their ignorance, marginalize and demonize these faiths, their spiritual ancestors.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

I would not bother to write if I were not sure that you will
listen. Thank you for this.

I was heartsick when
I read the news that Pope Francis approved the excommunication of Fr.
Greg Reynolds of Melbourne, Australia, for supporting women priests. It is a
blow, Pope Francis, precisely because of your appealing character, but it
confirms my suspicion that you have not transcended the conditioning of
Catholic culture.

Amid raving reports of your truly wonderful shift in style
and in aspects of church governance, it was shocking to learn that a priest was ex-communicated for supporting women priests. No priest or
bishop who participated in clergy sex abuse has been excommunicated for it. We
cannot escape the facts, Pope Francis—your hard line against women’s
ordination, your acceptance of Pope Benedict’s harsh response to women
religious leaders (LCWR), and your talk about women’s “special role” and a
“theology of women.”

Despite your delightful personality, your modeling of
humility, and your concern for poor people, which awe the world and give me
joy, you appear to lack wise judgment regarding women.Pope Francis, you have convinced us that you
are a listener. The way to learn about women is to put aside patriarchal
judgment and listen to women. Intelligent and educated women in your church are
trying to inform you and other clerics of women’s natural ability to command
and govern as well as minister. Please hear us.

Women have served as
more than mothers; they have exercised authority equal to men. They are
eminent theologians, advisers to popes, empathic educators. Women run
hospitals, universities, charitable organizations, and business enterprises to
help poor and needy people. They work in the most desperate and dangerous circumstances,
standing up to scoundrels.

Women’s “special
role” includes ordination, leadership, and decision-making. If the
Church had been governed by women as well as men, I do not doubt that clergy
sex abuse would have been nipped in the bud. Ordained women would have kept
clergy culture from becoming the festering sore that it is. Women can
contribute what men cannot because they are nurturers and because they have
been banned from the levers of power—they have not had the opportunity to be
spoiled by career ladders.

Please consider the words of Fr. Roy Bourgeois:

As Catholics, we profess that God created men and
women of equal worth and dignity. As priests, we profess that the call to the
priesthood comes from God, only God. Who are we, as men, to say that our call from
God is authentic, but God's call to women is not? The exclusion of women from
the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, our Church and our loving
God who calls both men and women to be priests. When there is an injustice,
silence is the voice of complicity. My conscience compelled me to break my
silence and address the sin of sexism in my Church.

I want to address the power of words and the effect of praying
all one’s long life to a lord. “Father”
and “Lord” are not the most harmful words referring to Divinity. The pronouns HeHimHis
do the most damage by dripping into our minds without notice. Their steady, sly
entry into our thoughts and imaginations, without our conscious awareness,
plants the belief that male dominance is natural, normal, proper, and right.
For this reason, male power is accepted, female power is not.

This account in my blog brought the first of some requests that I
write to you:

He remembers the exact intersection
where it happened. He can still see how everything looked around them when the
other man in the car suggested he pray “Our Mother” instead of “Our
Father.”Immediately he rejected it. It
did not sit well with him because he had a long-standing and deep relationship
with “Our Father.” But he kept coming back to the idea and could not dismiss
it. With repeated returns to “Our Mother” he realized how obviously appropriate
it was. He thought of his own mother now passed away, his Grandma, other
mothering women, the nurturing that mothers do. Now he appreciates the gift
given him when a fellow in the business world suggested that he relate to the
Divine Mother. Now he can rest in Her heavenly arms.

I feel privileged that he shared this with me and allows me
to share it with others who need liberation from patriarchal training. I’m
afraid one person needing it is you, dear Pope Francis. You have said that
women should play larger roles in the Church as long as they do not seek
masculine ones.This exposes the
familiar assumption that women belong in a place of subservience. To counter this conditioned attitude, I hope
you can accept the authority of our heavenly Mother.We
ask you, please, to beseech Mother God to grant you the vision of women having
authority, of women legitimately in command.

Women who want to serve in the Church meet limitations on their
leadership. Many leave and contribute in the secular world where their gifts
are appreciated and allowed to reach fruition. Without these highly talented
and accomplished women, the whole church is impoverished. Furthermore, the
exclusively male image of Source/Creator contributes to systemic and casual
acceptance of women as subordinate and submissive, which leads to violence
against women.

It is impossible to deny the connection between worship of the
male God image and worldwide abuse of females. Sexist God-talk trains people to
imagine Supreme Power as male, and women as inferior to men. This mindset
encourages husbands to bully their wives, men and adolescent boys to sexually
assault women and girls without feeling guilty, and pimps to profit by selling
females.

Dear Pope Francis,
you have admitted that the Church has made mistakes. I hope you have not passed
on to sainthood on the Other Side before you realize that the official Church
made a colossal error in its treatment of women.

If you are interested, I would be happy to tell you about
myself, but here I wanted to address my subject. Before sending this I asked
for suggestions for revision from religious friends who shall remain anonymous
because they fear punishment for supporting women priests and for endorsing
prayer to Divine Presence that is not limited to a single gender. This is a sad
comment on present governance in your Church.

Welcome

Interested in religions and spirituality? You've come to the right place.

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet says, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/ Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” This is a two-edged challenge. It invites believers to rethink their dogmas, and it challenges people without faith to rethink their certainty that everything religious is bunk.